Aragon Government Announces Solar Power Project With 549 MW Capacity Being In Public Interest; Planned To Be Largest PV Plant In Europe

(04. December 2017)

Having lost big time to wind power in the previous auction in Spain, PV seems to have come back with a long due victory. In the second technology neutral renewable energy auction, PV won 3,909 MW compared to 1,128 MW going to wind power plants.

In the first renewable energy auction held earlier this year, PV could manage to win only a negligible 1 MW of the 3 GW capacity auctioned – the big winner was wind power.

For the second tender, the Spanish Energy Ministry extended the original tendered capacity of 3 GW by over 2 GW, finally awarding a total of 5,037 MW of renewables. It attributed this to ‘high demand’. The entire capacity has been awarded to 40 companies.

While the ministry did not share details about the winners, Reuters reported that Spanish construction company ACS won 1,550 MW of solar power capacity through its subsidiary company, Cobra. X-Elio won 455 MW of solar.

Enel Green Power España won 339 MW of solar capacity. The company aims to invest around €270 million ($316.7 million) in the construction of this capacity. The projects will be located in the regions of Murcia and Badajoz.

Other winners are Gas Natural and Solaria, which were were awarded 200 MW and 250 MW, respectively.

Through the two auctions Spain has awarded a total of 8,037 MW of new renewable energy capacity of which PV won 3,910 MW, wind 4,107 MW and other technologies 20 MW. The capacity awarded in both auctions needs to come online before 2020.

Spain has huge power generation overcapacities. But as many EU countries that still have some way to go to meet their 2020 renewable energy targets, Spain is now pushing renewables to comply with its 20% goal. It is on a good way – end of 2015, it had already reached 17.3%. As all projects of the auction need to be operational before 2020, the finishing line is in sight.

At the end of 2016, Spain’s renewables capacity was 47.9 GW, with 23.1 GW coming from wind, 17 GW from hydro and nearly 7 GW from solar.

In June 2017, Spain’s Canary Islands said they were planning to launch its own wind and solar PV auction. Its bidding details were to be submitted to the National Competition Market Commission before July 31, 2017 (see Canary Islands Planning RE Auction).